Reopening for Tourism 2.0

The first digital conclave themed “reselling tourism” concluded with a record number of viewers from the Middle East and Asia. There were two sessions; the first session included three personalities in the travel trade – Nasir Jamal Khan, Jamal Abdulnazar and Tarique Khatri.

The three panellists mentioned the importance of the industry to stay positive during these challenging times as there will be light at the end of the tunnel. One of the key factors mentioned throughout was keeping the customers informed as to what is currently happening will help in building their confidence.

GCC ready to travel

In his opening statement, Nasir Jamal Khan, CEO, Al Naboodah Travel, mentioned, “If you look into the demographics of GCC, you will see that most of the people are ready to travel, most of the people need to travel; they will travel outbound to meet their family and friends, there will be people travelling inbound to the UAE to meet their family and friends therefore outbound will start in August and beyond. We hope that by October, November or December we will have a good number of inbound visitors to the UAE.”

Jamal Abdulnazar, Chief Executive Officer, Cozmo Travel, shared, “Human beings are very resilient in nature and travel is in the blood of most of the people in the Middle East. They have the heritage of travelling therefore the doubt of travel not coming in is not at all there, business will pick up but at a slow pace.”

Tarique Khatri, Executive Vice President Center of Excellence, Seera Group, shared, “Last month we carried out a survey in KSA with 3,000 plus customers, almost 70% of the people who participated in the survey expressed that they were confident to travel. Secondly they were willing to travel to places that has health and safety measures in place.”